NEWS WATCH

NEWS WATCH; Access to Lots of Gadgets Could Be at Your Fingertips

By Matt Richtel

Published: March 4, 1999

People using new Siemens technology will need the right touch to unlock their laptops, power up their P.D.A.'s and make calls on their cellular phones. Specifically, each user will need to touch the device with a finger so it can recognize the fingerprint as being the correct one.

Siemens intends to release the new technology, called the Fingertip Sensor, at the Cebit '99 trade show, scheduled for March 18 in Hanover, Germany.

The sensor is a specially designed computer chip that has been programmed to identify an individual's fingerprint and use it as a de facto password.

In other words, only the user's fingerprint will permit access to a given gadget.

Such a gadget is part of what is called biometrics, which permits access by recognizing things like the retina or the voice.

While biometrics is becoming more common, Siemens's effort represents its newest frontier: lightweight, low-cost devices designed for portable use. Jeff Davis, a marketing manager for Siemens, said the company would sell the fingerprint sensor to mobile computer makers for around $35.

He said consumers should expect to see the device accompanying portable PC's and P.D.A.'s before the end of the year.

One gruesome side note is that the companies working on fingerprint access have worried about whether thieves could literally cut off and steal a person's finger to use it to gain entry to a piece of technology.

Siemens's technology is designed to account for that possibility and ''requires a live finger to operate,'' Mr. Davis said.